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The Maine Conservative Voice, more than occasionally, has criticized Senator Susan Collins for her votes and what we believe is a lack of conservative principles in her voting record. What Senator Collins does not lack in is courage. This has been evidenced over the years in willingness to challenge the conservatives in her own party, much to our chagrin.

But it is this courage that she exemplified in the face of heinous behavior by unhinged mobs to defend the rule of law, due process, and the presumption of innocence. The Republic owes her a debt of gratitude today. Maine is proud of their Senator today.

In the future, given Collins track record, TMCV will assuredly disagree with Senator Collins on many issues. We will not hesitate to voice our opinions and disapproval, as is our right, which the Senator has so courageously defended. Still for now, a heartfelt tip of the hat to Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

Reports that Maine’s ranking Senator Susan Collins has announced her decision to support the Senate version of the Tax Reform bill is welcome news to the hard-working taxpayers of Maine. We, the members of The Red County Caucus, would like to commend the Senator for this decision. While the bill falls short of the necessary reform that the tax structure needs, it is a positive step forward and establishes a good foundation for future reform.

Senator Collins was successful in securing concessions from Republicans in exchange for her vote. A political victory for Collins to be sure , but the impact upon our economy remains to be seen. What remains perplexing to Maine voters is Collins’ continued defense of Obamacare and the Individual Mandate, which she campaigned against.

The Red County Caucus recommends that Senator Collins take the time to engage with her constituents, specifically small business owners, whose budgets are choked by the onerous effects of the Individual Mandate. Perhaps then she would understand its negative impact upon the economies of Maine residents and businesses. Still, the people of Maine should applaud this positive announcement from their Senator.

Opponents of Tax Reform have touted the projections from the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) and this should be addressed. Simply stated, the CBO has been historically and consistently wrong in its projections and, sadly, in recent years has become increasingly partisan, which only further diminishes its credibility. All honest and non-partisan analysis agree that tax reform will bring much needed tax cuts across all wage brackets, doubling much needed child tax credit, and increase tax refunds for middle to low wage earners.

In summation, Senator Collins should be commended for her support of the Senate tax reform bill. This bill, though far from perfect, provides much needed tax relief for the wage earners and businesses of the United States. If the repeal of the Individual Mandate remains in place, this bill is a strong positive move forward towards reforming our outdated and burdensome tax structure.

We of The Red County Caucus would like to remind Senator Susan Collins that the Constitution of the United States was written to protect the Natural Born Rights of the Individual. These Rights, inherent, unalienable, and God-given, have been, in times past and present, under repeated assault from activism from all corners of our society in an effort to undermine the Founding Ideal of this Free Republic: that the government of free men should defend and protect the free will of the individual. What is common sense was once common place but now a rarity to be sure.

Congress is now engaged in a pitted debate over the nuance, impact, and economics of tax reform. The Red County Caucus is not prepared at this point to issue a statement on a tax reform plan as Congress is still far from formulating one. However, we will comment on the recent duplicitous behavior of Maine’s Senior Senator, Susan Collins.

Senator Collins has threatened to sabotage the tax reform process unless the repeal of the individual mandate of Obamacare is removed. This is strikingly hypocritical of the good Senator, who was heard on many occasions on the campaign trial, decrying to enthusiastic Maine voters the disastrous impact the individual mandate and ObamaCare has had on Maine household budgets, all the while chanting “Repeal and Replace”. Now returned to Congress’ marbled halls, Collins’ mantra seems to have changed to “Defend and Deny” at all cost.

Can there be a more glaring violation of the Constitution than the Individual Mandate? To mandate, that is to force by law, an individual to purchase a product the individual may or may not want, to fund an ideal of socialized medicine that the individual may or may not want, and to do so under threat of penal action by the government, the maker of the product, is the very epitome of the kind of governmental abuse and overreach our Constitution was written to protect against. Yet, Senator Collins remains dogged in her determination to undermine, once again, Congress and the President’s attempt to fix a failing and outdated tax system in a fixated effort to defend a healthcare system she promised voters she would work to “repeal and replace”.

We ask Susan Collins once again: Who is she representing? Is it the bureaucracies and Washington power brokers who wish to force the individual, through a government mandate, to comply to their wishes? Or the individuals here in Maine who have and still protest this Individual Mandate with its destructive impacts on the households of the State she represents. Senator Collins must choose against the interests of Washington and for the individual rights of her constituents in Maine.

Senator Susan Collins is reveling in her new found notoriety as chief saboteur of conservative policy. It was not even two years ago that the Honorable Senator from Maine chanted “Repeal and Replace” to the cheering delegates of the Maine Republican Convention. It would seem that the promise to remove ObamaCare was something akin to her promise to only serve two terms as a U.S. Senator: a lie.

Now she is touring the wheel of D.C. Punditry wielding a healthy disregard for the rule of law. Her criticism of President Trump’s order stopping ObamaCare subsidies is based on the emotion that she feels his decision hurts certain people groups. This may in fact be true but she is missing, by ignorance or design, the irrefutable and incontrovertible fact that the payments were illegal.

In order to pay the exorbitant price tag of the ACA, President Obama circumvented Congress by Executive Order and began paying insurance companies, subsidizing the high costs of government healthcare. The Constitution clearly states that the President cannot make any financial payments without Congressional authorization and a Federal Court has ruled that these payments were in fact illegal, criminal, and theft.

In light of this legal ruling and the Constitution, this sitting President is bound by law to correct the illegal and criminal actions of the past President. The problem of damage to any certain people groups may be a sad truth, but the fault lies not with those who are bound by law to correct the crime. The fault lies with those who committed the crime in the first place: President Obama, those in Congress who enabled the President with silence, and the insurance companies who are complicit in the fraud.

It is concerning at best, that the senior Senator from Maine seems content to base her decisions, and arguments for such, on emotions rather then facts and the rule of law. The healthcare debacle is a national crisis which is not best served by leaders who vacillate from year to year manipulating their political stances to accommodate political expediency, changing from election year rhetoric to special interest’s influence. Senator Collins should work to find solutions grounded in fact and law rather than emotion wielded in spite.